Improvement in operating rolls for rolling irons



W. STARK Rolling Metal Bars, Plates, 8L0.

Patented April 21, 1863 Wfiamea UN T D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM STARK, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN OPERATING ROLLS FOR ROLLING IRONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,248, dated April 21, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM STARK, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Mode of Open ating Rolls for Rollin g Iron, Copper, and other Metals and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a pair of rolls with my improvement for reversing their motion. Fig. 2 is a representation of the gearin g on one side of the rolls. Fig. 3 is a representation of the gearing on the other side of the rolls. Fig. 4 is a plan of the lower roll with its clutches and reversing-levers.

In the several figures like letters of refer 'ence denote similar parts.

Rolls for reducing, planishing, or shaping bars, plates, or sheets of iron or copper are used in pairs, one placed above the other, a continuous rotary motion being communicated to one or both of them from a steam-engine or other prime motor.

The bars, sheets, or plates to be operated upon are usually passed several times through or between the same pair of rolls, this being especially the case with grooved rolls, for shaping the metal or for drawing rods or bars of iron. As the rolls move continually in the same direction, the metal, when it has passed between them, is raised by workmen standing behind the rolls, and the end laid on. the top of the upper roll, so that by its motion it may be passed over to the workmen in front, who receive it and pass it again between the rolls. Thus the metal requires to be handled twice for every time it is operated upon by the rolls. If, however, the motion of the rolls can be suddenly and easily reversed before the bar, plate, or sheet is returned to the front of the rolls, it might be passed between the rolls instead of over them,and be operated upontwice as often with the same amount of handling as it now receives under the mode of operating rolls now in use.

My invention is designed to effect this important saving of time and labor in the operation of rolling metals, either hot or cold and to enable others skilled in the art to make a practical use of my improvement, I will proceed to describe the mechanical means which I employ to effect it. y

In the drawings, Fig. 1, a a are the housings of the rolls, such as are ordinarily used for reducing or planishin g iron or copper, the rolls being placed one above the other and revolving between the housings a (t in journalboxes 0 c. The upper roll, b, may be connected with the lower roll, I), by gearing, or may be left free to move by contact with the sheet or plate drawn through them by the positive motion of the lower roll, as may be preferred, no positive motion of the upper roll being necessary, as will be the case if the sheet or plate had to be returned over it in the mode of operation heretofore practiced. The journal of the lower roll is extended at both ends beyond the housing, outside of whichand rigidly attached to the roll at both ends is onehalf of a crab, d and e, the half-crab at one end, 01, having its teeth set so as to take into the corresponding teeth of its corresponding half-crab, d, when the rolls move in one direction, and the half-crab e at the other end of the roll having its teeth so set as to engage the teeth of its corresponding half-crab, 6, when the motion of the rolls is reversed. On a line with the axis of the lower roll, I), is the short connecting-shaft) at one end, and a similar short connecting shaft, f, is similarly placed at the other end. These connecting shafts are supported in suitable bearings, g 9. Each of these connecting-shafts f f has a cogwheel, h h, rigidly attached to it, one being on the right-hand side and the other on the left-hand side of the rolls, as seen in Fig. 1. The cog-wheel h gears into a similar cog-wheel, i, fixed to a shaft, k, which extends parallel with the rolls b b, either underneath or alongside of the lower roll, I), so that a cog-wheel of similar size and number of teeth to the cogwheel "6 at the other extremity of the shaft f may gear into an idler, l, in the same plane as the cog-wheel hon the other connecting-shaft, f. The shaft of the idler l is supported in suitable bearings, m m. The cog-wheels h and i both gear into the idler l, as shown in Fig. 3, and the cog-wheels h and t, gearing into each other, without the interposition of an idler, as seen in Fig. 2, may be so arranged as that the roll b will move with the same velocity in both directions, or, if preferred, so that it will move more rapidly in one direction than in the other.

It is manifest thatit the crab dd on the right-- hand side of the rolls be closed, as seen in Fig. 1, the motion given to the cog-wheel h on the short shaft f will not be communicated directly to the lower roll, I), because the crab c c (on the left-hand side) on the shaft fis open when the crab d d at the other end of the roll I) is closed, but will be communicated through the oogwheel t' to the shaft 7t, and.

thence through the idler l to the cog-wheel h on the shaft 7, at the righthand side of the roll, so that the roll I) will revolve in the reverse direction to the shaft 7. If, now, the crabs be changed, the crab 0 6 being closed on the left-hand side of the machine, and the crab d (1 opened on the right-hand side, the motion of the shaft f is directly communicated to the lower roll, I), while the shaftf at the opposite extremity, although still revolving as before, is disconnected from the roll I) and no longer moves it; or, in other words, the motion of the lower roll, I), is reversed simply by changing the connection of the crabs d d and e c. It is therefore only necessary to provide a means for suddenly and simultaneously closing one pair of crabs and opening the other pair to effect the immediate reversal ot'motion of the rolls, and this without any jar to the machinery or stoppage of its motion. This change of the crabs is eifected in the manner shown in Fig. 4.

To each of the halt' crabs attached to the lower roll, I), is connected one extremity of a reversing-lever, n a, the lever 12, which operates the half-crab e at the left-hand side of theroll having its fulcrum at p in the framework of the machinery, and the other lever, n, which operates the half-crab d at the righthand side of the roll having its fulcrum at p in the frame-work. These reversing-levers n it are connected at their outer extremities by a rod, g, which extends across the machinery in front of and parallel with the lower roll, I). All that is necessary, therefore, to reverse the motion of the rolls is to move the connectingately opens one of the pair of crabs and closes the other, as before described.

Having thus described my improved mode of operating rolls, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

The combination of the counter-shaft, gearin g into the main shaft of the rolls at both ends, by means of a pair of cog-wheels at one end and a pair of wheels and an idler at the other end, with the crabs for connecting one of the rolls with the shaft at either side at pleasure, the halt crabs on the roll at either end being operated together, so as toconnect the roll with the shaft at one end and disconnect it from the shaft at the other end simultaneousl y, substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

WM. STARK.

Witnesses:

A. S. NICHOLSON, WV. BAKEWELL.

rod q to one side or the other, which immedi- I 

